Bill Ruane

We try to own common stocks of high quality companies with good earnings growth prospects… We try to buy these companies at prices we believe underestimate their real value
Over the years we have found that investment patience is eventually rewarded
We’d love to always be fully invested in stocks dramatically undervalued in relation to their relative business value. If we had four good ideas now we’d be fully invested
Staying small is simply good business. There aren’t that many great companies
We have never had any success in forecasting either Sequoia’s or the stock market’s short term performance. However, our sense of valuation has proven to be a good barometer over longer periods of time
Over long periods of time, strong business performance translates into strong investment performance
Use the results of [your own] own research, as opposed to using outside research
You don’t need inside information. Don’t need charts and mumbo-jumbo. It isn’t about momentum. It isn’t that guff the talking heads give you on CNBC
If you get a great idea every other year, you’re really doing wells
Forget the level of the market. The only thing that matters is the specific situation having to do with your stocks
Put most of your money in six or seven stocks that you’ve really studied
Nobody knows what the market will do
I am basically an optimist
Staying small is simply good business. It wouldn’t be fair to our customers if we had to spread our ideas too thin. There aren’t that many great companies
Value and growth are not two distinct categories of investments. Growth is merely one aspect of the value equation
Every investment fashion, when carried to excess, has led to a painful correction
One of the things we try very hard to do is to buy a stock only when the company is right, the price is right, and we have real conviction about it
You don’t act rationally when you’re investing borrowed money…. Don’t borrow money. If you are smart, you don’t need to. If you are dumb, you don’t want to
One characteristic of dramatically bad markets is that they often follow dramatically good markets and tend to correct the excesses which existed previously
The recipe for delivering superior long-term performance requires equal parts of picking the right stocks and avoiding the wrong ones
Our biggest mistake is selling too early, but we will continue to do that
Our investment approach is not in sync with current conditions, but we will not abandon proven standards just to be with the crowd
Thoughtful investing means three things: a small portfolio (20 stocks at most), low turnover and ‘eating your own cooking,’ meaning that the managers invest substantial personal money not just in the management company but in the funds themselves
In this business you have the innovators, the imitators, and the swarming incompetents
We think the stock market is almost discounting the end of the capitalistic system, but we have more faith in the durability of our society
It’s very, very difficult to compound money at more than 15% per year when you’re dealing with large aggregates of capital. Anybody with expectations above that will be disappointed

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	masnar.capital@gmail.com